Introducing Mellow
by RoboFoxtrot
Summary: It's not like Brock could have actually told Clay no, that would have been like stealing from baby. And Clay knows all of his weak points. Or Clay really wants the kitten.


"Brock?"

Looking over his shoulder, Brock noticed Clay had made his way to the back of the alley. He was crouched down, hands stretched out in front of himself in a non threatening manner, indicating that whatever he had found was alive. It would be like Clay to find some living creature at a time like this.

They had gotten separated from the rest of Bravo earlier and were forced to take temporary cover in this alley. Five minutes had already passed with complete radio silence, making it hard to wait for Jason's go ahead to regroup. Or until they were forced to move. In other words, not the time for Clay to be distracted by some sort of small animal.

With one final glance around the corner, Brock headed towards Clay, holding Cerberus's lead tightly when the dog started to whine. "Please tell me you didn't find some small creature."

Brock let out a huff of exasperation when Clay ignored him in favor of cooing softly before his hands darted out quickly snatching up whatever he'd found. Yup, definitely going to be an animal.

Clay finally turned around carefully cradling a tiny gray kitten covered in dirt and grime, it's skinny body wiggled around as it meowed pitifully in Clay's grasp. Brock was loath to admit it but the small thing really was cute, it even had Clay's baby blue eyes.

"It's not an animal, it's an innocent soul that needs our protection. Look at this little face." Clay whined, holding the small creature out to Brock while making sad puppy eyes.

Not fair. Animals made Brock weak, what with their cute faces and expressive eyes, he just couldn't resist. Anyone who knew him was aware of that, unfortunately that included Clay. Clay who had somehow mastered puppy eyes and took great pleasure in using them on Brock to get whatever he wanted.

Finally unable to resist any longer, Brock reached to grab the small kitten, "Let me see." He scowled at Clay when the other man pulled the kitten out of his reach. One way or another Brock was going to pet that kitten.

"Grab Cerb and I will. He keeps licking his lips like I'm about to feed him a tasty snack." Clay looked down at Cerberus with a frown. "No, Cerb babies are not food. That's rude."

"Oh, don't be so dramatic. He's just curious." Brock grabbed Cerberus's lead anyway and pulled him behind him just to make Clay more comfortable.

Carefully handing the kitten to Brock, Clay whispered, "Be careful, it's delicate." His eyes were wide with wonder, as if the kitten was his first born or something.

Snorting Brock pointed back towards the opening on the alley, "Go keep watch, make sure those two guys haven't moved." He couldn't help but laugh at the disgruntled look Clay gave him.

"Well aren't you a cutie," Brock whispered,shoving his face into the kittens fur, ignoring all the grime. It was going to be hard to say no when Clay asked to take it home and the kid was definitely going to try and take the kitten with them.

Looking up Brock could see Clay huffing and muttering under his breath. He looked carefully around the corner, signaling Brock to approach.

"Nearly clear, only two guards left," Clay informed Brock and radioed the situation to Bravo One. "We gotta wait until they walk over here, then hide the bodies then meet up with the rest right. Of Bravo outside the village. Until then give me my kitten back."

"Oh, your kitten is it?" Brock asked, teasingly holding the kitten away from Clay. Taunting Clay was always too easy to pass up. He always scrunched his nose up in indignation before pulling the most ridiculous pouty face.

"Yes, finder's keepers. Don't get greedy you have Cerberus, now gimme." Clay's continued to make grabby hands at the kitten.

Laughing to himself Brock carefully handed the docile kitten back. "It's a girl and you know Jason won't let you bring her back home, even if he could. It's better to just leave her here for the momma to come back for.

Clay proceeded to make saddest puppy eyes at Brock, holding the kitten up to his face, "We can't just leave her here in a war zone. I don't see any other kitten around so she probably got separated or something happened to the rest. We're navy seals we can't just leave an innocent helpless soul to die."

Brock stared at Clay for a few moments before groaning when Cerberus started making puppy eyes at him too. "You know what. That's good enough for me."

"Yay!" Clay cried quietly throwing his hands up in success. The poor kitten mewled in surprise at the sudden movement, making Clay gasp and cradle the kitten tightly to his chest.

Ignoring Clay, Brock walked back to the entrance, glancing around the two men, spotting them headed towards them. He motioned for Clay to be quiet and get in position.

Quickly shoving the kitten into one of his pants pockets, Clay took up position beside Brock, waiting for the two men to get closer. "Left," Clay whispered, taking the shot right as the men were nearly on them.

Both of the men fell to the ground with a quiet thump, their bodies quickly dragged into the alley, out of sight. Clay was smiling impishly at Brock as he reached into his pocket, pulling the kitten back out.

"She didn't even move or make a sound." The younger male announced happily, giving the kitten a kiss before shoving it back into his pocket. "She was meant to be my cat, it's fate."

Brock just looked up at the sky, exasperated at Clay's antics. He almost felt bad for the kitten with Clay as her owner. "Just be careful, it's still a baby, and when you get caught, because you will, I had nothing to do with this. You better tell Jason that."

"Sure dude, of course," Clay said cherrily as he followed Brock practically skipping after him. He kept patting his pocket every once in a while, reassuring himself the kitten was still there. Convincing Brock to say yes was the easy part. Now Clay just had to keep her hidden until the plane took off back home. Easy enough.

Everything went smoothly for the next five or so hours. They had met back up with the rest of Bravo, quickly heading to their exfil location before anyone noticed they had been there. Cerberus nearly gave everything away with the way he kept whining at Clay's pocket, nudging it with his nose.

"You got some treats or something in there, Bam Bam?" Sonny asked, knocking shoulders with Clay.

For some god awful reason, Clay decided the best response was to say, "Nah, it's just my dirty underwear, Cerb loves my smell."

"Gross, why are you carrying underwear around?"

"Don't ask questions Sonny!"

Tugging Cerberus closer to him, Brock shot Clay a death glare and starting hanging his hammock up. S

Clay smiled sheepishly at Brock, knowing he was going to owe Brock for this, Cerb too. At least he had a new little best friend, she was worth it.

Heading to the back of the plane quietly and hanging his hammock up as far away from the rest of the team as possible. Clay grabbed a bottle of water from his pack, opening it, while looking around, making sure he was alone, he carefully removed the sleeping kitten from his pocket. Cooing softly, when it meowed, he gently rubbed behind it's small ears before setting it down and pouring some water into the lid. He showed it to the kitten but she didn't seem too interested. Maybe she was still too little for water and needed some milk? Clay grabbed the gray kitten, carefully placed her back in his pocket, heading over to Brock.

Brock noticed Clay making his way over to him and groaned silently. Setting Cerberus' food and water dishes down, Brock filled them up, scratching behind the dog's ears as he waited patiently for Clay too reach him. The younger man probably needed some help with the kitten, shouldn't have taken it in the first place. Of course, Brock wasn't really one to talk, he didn't actually try to stop Clay all that much. The kid had turned his big blue eyes on him, holding the kitten tightly, and Brock gave in. He was weak ok, he has a hard time saying no, so sue him.

"Brock! Hey, buddy!" Clay said, sliding up next to him. "How's everything going? Good? Great! Say, you wouldn't know how to tell if the kitten still needs milk would you?"

Raising an eyebrow, Brock motioned for Clay to follow him back towards his hammock for privacy. "Let me see her."

Clay lifted the kitten from his pocket handing it to Brock carefully, watching as the older man flipped her around, examining it.

"Be careful, your upsetting her," Clay squaked, snatching the kitten back, when it started meowing.

"She's fine. I'd say she is around three weeks, but other than the fleas and possible worms, she seems healthy enough. Take her to a vet when we get back home and you should be fine." Brock scratched the little kitten behind the ears before tensing up, when he saw Lisa approaching them. "Quick, hide her!"

Panicking Clay shoved the kitten up under his shirt, turning around to casually face Lisa. "Heeeyyy Lisa, what's up?"

Lisa gave him a look, "Your acting weird, both of you have been acting weird since you got back. What's going on?" She watched both of them closely, especially Clay, since he literally couldn't seem to hold still. They were up to something.

"Meow."

Looking down at Clay's talking stomach, Lisa asked, "What was that?"

Eyes going wide, Clay started meowing loudly, nudging Brock with his elbow harshly until he joined in. Across the plane Cerberus joined in, trying to mimic the sound his handler was making, clearly thinking they were playing a game. Everyone on the plane looked over at them curiously, especially Bravo.

"Clay," Lisa said patiently, waiting for them to stop with the stupidity. "Do you have a kitten in your shirt?"

"No," Clay responded, refusing to meet her eyes. At least he and Brock had stopped meowing, unlike Cerberus who still seemed to be really enjoying himself.

"Clay."

"What?"

"You better show me the cat right now."

"What cat? There is no cat."

"Bam Bam has a cat?" Sonny asked, popping up behind Lisa.

"Yup," Lisa answered, ignoring Clay's protests. Brock groaned beside him, running a hand down his face.

"Well come on then, show us Clay," Sonny demanded.

Pouting like a child, Clay finally showed them the tiny kitten, slapping Sonny's hands away when he tried to grab it. "Keep your dirty mitts off her."

"Fine! I didn't wanna hold your grubby cat anyway!" Sonny shouted, crossing his arms, glaring at Clay.

"Excuse you! She is a lady and deserves respect!"

"Lady my ass, that's a dirty little rat!"

"Rat?! Why you son of a-"

Lisa quickly shoved the two men apart before someone tried to punch the other. She noticed the rest of the team making their way over, Jason didn't look pleased either.

"Someone want to tell me what's going on here?" Jason asked, crossing his arms with a frown. Only Lisa would meet his eyes and she hinted towards Clay. Of course it was Clay. "Clay anything you want to tell us?"

"Clay found a kitten." Brock blurted out.

Gasping loudly, Clay wacked Brock in the shoulder with a shriek, "Traitor!"

"Oh jesus, Clay!" Jason groaned, rolling his eyes in frustration. He held his hand out waiting impatiently for Clay to deliver the cat.

"Thanks a lot Brock." Grumbling, Clay reluctantly handed the kitten over to Jason, ignoring the looks he was getting.

"C'mon you know he was going to find out anyway. This just keeps you from getting into even worse trouble," Brock told Clay, nudging his side gently.

"I'm guessing Brock helped you?" Ray asked.

"Yes."

"No."

Jason raised an eyebrow at them both as he looked at the small kitten in his hands. It really was quite cute and didn't seem to make much noise, probably how Clay was able to smuggle it on the plane in the first place.

"Don't really see what we can do about it now." Jason ignored the pleased look Clay had. "Don't get too excited, both of you are going to be running drills until you drop. This was stupid and irresponsible and it sure as hell isn't going to happen again." He handed the kitten back to Clay before walking away, Ray and Trent following behind him.

Brock winced slightly, this has definitely bitten him in the ass, but Clay looked pretty happy so it was worth it. The other man looked pretty attached to the kitten already, and after the past year he'd had, this small amount of happiness was worth the trouble.

"I'll call a local vet that you can take her to when we get back," Lisa told Clay, gently rubbing his arm as she left.

"Maybe you wanna think of a name for her?" Sonny asked, finally getting to pet the small kitten. It was pretty soft, making Sonny's heart melt just a little bit.

"Lady Frumpernickel, like pumpernickel but frumpernickel cause she's kinda frumpy looking."

Sonny and Brock looked at each other.

"I'm sorry, did you just say Lady Frumpernipple?" Sonny asked disbelievingly.

"Frumpernickel! I said frumpernickel! Nickel, you ignorant slut, not nipple!" Clay shrieked, disturbing the kitten in his hands. She started meowing loudly, alerting Cerberus to her distress, who happily came running to save her.

Brock really should stop Cerb from slobbing the kitten, especially since it was causing Clay to scream obscenities, but it was just too damn funny. The rest of Bravo obviously agreed it their laughter was anything to go by. Smiling, Brock reached out and grabbed Cerberus's collar pulling him back with a quick pat to the head.

"Brock you gotta control Cerb, he keeps trying to eat Lady." Clay set the kitten in his hammock while shooting Cerb a glare. Cerberus woofed at him in return.

"That's what Cerberus was sniffing at earlier, huh?" Sonny asked.

"Of course it was. Cerberus isn't going to smell Clay's dirty underwear." Brock was still pissed about that.

"You say that but I've caught him more than once trying to do just that," Clay informed Brock with a smirk on his face.

Glaring, Brock started to walk away, "you're on your own now, see if I help you with the kitten."

Lisa grabbed him by the arm and pulled him back towards Clay and Sonny. "Sucks to be you then Brock, cause Jason said you have to help Clay with the vet and picking up supplies. He said since you decided to help Clay in the first place you can finish what you started." She patted Brock sympathetically on the arm and handed Clay a card with the vet info.

"Ha! Get rekt!" Clay howled with laughter.

"Fine but you're not naming that cat Lady Frumpernickel."

"It's cute!"

"It's really not, dude."

Pouting Clay examined the kitten, "ok, then what about Mellow. Cause she is so chill and relaxed for a kitten."

Brock thought for a second, it was kind of a cute name and made sense. "Yeah I guess that's a pretty good name. Just know, you're going to have to find someone to watch her when get spun up."

"Of course. What else would I do?"

It turns out Mellow was deaf, the vet said she was born that way and that the mother probably abandoned her because of it. Clay had been insufferable with that knowledge until Jason threatened him with hills everytime he mentioned it. Everyone loved Mellow, they didn't really have a choice considering not once in the entire time of owning Mellow had Clay left her behind. Somehow she always managed to find her way onto the plane, which is why Brock really should have seen this coming.

They'd been spun up a few hours ago, and when Brock went to retrieve Cerberus from his crate he discovered something cute but exasperating. Sitting there curled up against Cerberus was Mellow, looking like she totally belonged there. Cerberus seem to agree if the constant licking was anything to go by.

"Goddamnit Clay!"

"I didn't do it!"


End file.
